PBS identified deficiencies oversight of contractor compliance with security requirements. Image: Zakhar Mar/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffLapses in security protections are a common theme in construction, repair and alteration projects of federal buildings overseen by the Public Buildings Service, the GSA’s inspector general’s office has said.
Those projects “are subject to a variety of security requirements that are designed to protect federal buildings, information, and personnel” but in audits of seven, “we identified deficiencies in PBS’s oversight of contractor compliance with security requirements in all seven.”
It cited as examples findings of: “inconsistent and contradictory” security requirements at one project and contractor employees who were allowed to work on it even though they did not clear background checks; lack of enforcement by the PBS of building security requirements and contract workers without required security clearances being allowed access to another; and similar lack of enforcement of site security requirements and failure to ensure that security checks had been performed on contractor employees at a third.
Other common issues identified across building projects included oversight of small business set-aside contracts; enforcement of construction wage rate requirements; and the completeness and accuracy of contract files.
In response, the PBS said it will issue an internal directive describing those findings and pointing to resources to address them.
The report is the latest in a series from the IG and the GAO raising warnings about security, health and safety issues in federal buildings. The GAO most recently issued a report titled “Federal Protective Service: Actions Needed to Address Critical Guard Oversight and Information System Problems”; however, the findings were deemed so sensitive that the report is classified.
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